Late last week, my good friend A.N. commented that it seems odd that I don't compost. Heck, I turn the act of recycling into a protracted ordeal...seems like I would be thrilled to pile up veggie matter for the soil, right? And it's true...it is a little weird that I don't have a compost pile out back...or on the side of the house even. I'm certainly interested in the notion, and have researched all manner of techniques. (I even queried A.N. on the topic. She had a pile up until recently.)
Currently, if I were to go compost-al, I'm partial to this whirl-the-dirt compost contraption, though this one is pretty cute, too. My preference for the former is rooted, I think, in two of the main reasons that I've refrained from composting to date: fire ants and snakes.
I hate them both, though I will tolerate their non-poisonous varieties to some degree. And I keep an ever watchful eye out for both when in the yard.
I have to confess, however, that my recent, focused reading/thinking/writing/blogging about gardening is forcing me to reconsider ants and snakes as barriers to gardening in general and my composting efforts in particular. As I noticed the other day after Tater Tot got a mess of ants on his feet and I spent some time pulling weeds out of an old ant bed a few short hours later, it seems kinda obvious that in loosening the soil, the stingin' bugs are marginally beneficial, especially with the caliche clay on which we dwell. A quick web search led me to this page by...ahem, cough, cough...Texas A&M that backs up my observation ("After a colony vacates a mound in your garden, you are left with beautifully aerated and tilled soil.") and also points out that fireants kill a mess o' other pests, too. A few of them left in situ are actually considered helpful to some farmers (soybeans and cotton in particular). A bit more research led me to this thread on the iVillage Garden Web. According to posters, there are some basic, simple things (water, coffee) that can be applied to keep the ants at bay. They also point out, as did A.N., that keeping sugar (including fruit) out of the compost pile helps tremendously. (Can I just riff for a moment on a remark that I heard recently and say that it's composters who are the "Ron Paul supporters" of the garden world? Talk about taking "tenacious" up a notch. They are terrific!)
So, with the ant issue resolved in theory, I guess that leaves the snakes, right?
I first heard of snakes living in compost piles back when we lived in Austin. There, our neighbor J.--a marvelous gardener with a real eye for design, too--kept a sizeable compost pile out back. (He's also the man who taught us the rudiments of sheet mulching, or "composting in place," though I only learned while reading this book that was the technical term. And J. also told me that fireants eat flea eggs...a point that I've never checked out online but prolly should.) Once I expressed interest in his pile and he mentioned...with great cheerfulness...that his was home to a (non-venomous) king snake, but that no other rodents had taken up residence.
Well, gee, I wonder why?
Not having encountered a king snake personally in this yard, I'd like to keep it that way. I have spotted the odd green grass snake. And then there was the small rattler that my husband decapitated two summers ago...after, of course, apologizing to the creature that what was about to take place had to be done (we have a small child, after all, and rattlesnakes ain't playthings). Having grown up around farms and my grandparent's ranch, I'm certainly no amiga to the rattlesnake.
I also recall from a visit (as a child...can you imagine the nightmares?) to the annual Rattlesnake RoundUp in Sweetwater, Texas, that the fool things love brush and rock piles, so it just makes sense that a warm pile of dirt would make a nice, comfy hidey-hole. I can accept that by building on a lot that encroaches on the snakes' habitat there's a certain amount of live-and-let live that I will have to abide. But I simply cannot invite the slitherin' sort over for a sleepover and a snack. That's just creepy.
So, for now...I'm going to continue to gaze longingly at the spinning compost stand--the only really workable solution for me, I think. Still, I can't quite make the leap and commit to it yet because I don't actually have a good place to put it. Most options would be within reach of prying toddler hands. But I feel confident that it's doable down the road...then it'll be something new to learn, I guess, to keep this mind of mine nimble, my plants vibrant and the earth greener (more good reasons to compost here).
For Further Exploration:
• Red Neck Mother has a great account of her composting experience/knowledge. Be sure to check out the Comments section for more information from her posters.
• Good field safety tips for dealing with rattlers here.
• My mom swears that De-Solv-It kills fireants brilliantly. I haven't tried it...mainly because I never remember to put the fool thing on my list. But it's supposedly eco-friendly. FWIW.
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